Maths puzzle: Can you get your children in line using logic and maths?

There are a lot of people in the world who hate maths, purely because they think it’s not for them. But, as Cady Heron said in the seminal classic ‘Mean Girls’, “Maths is the same in every country”. It truly is the universal language.

Maths is maths at every level, from complete beginners to PhD-level experts and beyond. It can be incredibly challenging, but it can also be simple and fun.

And sometimes, it’s somewhere in between – a little less than easy, and a little more involved than you think.

That’s the case with this week’s maths puzzle from the Irish Mathematical Trust, which involves a little logic, and a lot of counting.

See if you can figure it out.

The reverse Von Trapp

The Von Trapp children have been called downstairs to meet their new teacher.

The 10 children – there have been three new additions to the family since Captain Von Trapp married Maria – each of a different height, are lined up, left to right, from smallest to tallest. They are told to rearrange themselves, again from left to right, from tallest to smallest.

However, they can only do this by swapping the positions of two children standing next to each other. They can do as many swaps as necessary in order to get into their new formation.